Is Autism the next step in evolution?

Post Reply New Topic

I think it is.

I know Tony Attwood suggested something like this but I don't think so.
Instead, I think autism is part of natural and healthy diversity that makes the evolution available.

No, because evolution does not have "steps."

Future people will know what “the next step” in evolution was by studying what actually happened. We can’t know in advance, and I don’t think anything good will come from the belief that we are the chosen ones. If anyone takes you seriously at all, considering we’re a minority and have quite a bit of trouble adapting to life in a neurotypical society, the most likely response is some kind of neurotypical supremacist movement which chooses us as scapegoats, seeking to exterminate us for the sake of preserving a clean, neurotypical gene pool.

If you're suggesting that the human race will evolve into becoming more autistic in the future then - the answer to your question is: I don't see any evidence for that, nor do I see much reason why that would happen.

This for me too.

I agree that thats a good way to view it. One more variety in the seed bank for the crop.

That.

To me this is like asking if Dyspraxia, or Nonverbal Learning Disorder, or Intellectual Disability, or Cerebral Palsy, or Executive Disorder is the next step in evolution. The answer to all those and autism is no.

This! If anything, if autism is involved in the evolutionary process, it's competing with NTs and other sorts. That being said, I don't see how being unable to access large portions of the brain would be an evolutionary advantage.

Autism is a relatively new label and diagnosis, that doesn't mean it didn't always exist before without being defined.

How did you arrive at the conclusion that autism is the next step in evolution?

My husband is "colorblind". In fact it means he confuses brown with dark green but he sees two different "reds" (spectrally "far" red with lower frequencies which he calls "real red" and spectrally "close" red which he calls "fake red") that seem the same to typical eyes.
During WWII the armes discovered thar the colorblind are better to see through camouflage.
His colorblind ancestors sucked at collecting mushrooms but spotted a deer everyone else overlooked – so the tribe as a whole got both the mushrooms and the deer.

I think in similar terms about autism. You don't get lots of things "obvious" to the others but spot what they cannot see. Like details that don't fit. It's frustrating because the civilisation is made for right-handed, color-typical, cis-gender and neurotypical because they are the majority. But diversity benefits the population so here we are.

Unfortunately, one of the benefits to society is that minorities of any kind make good scapegoats.

I think it's a step back for the human race in a good way. Population is way out of control so many strangers sensory overload chatting about the weather blah blah blah how bout we deevolve